1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reproducing apparatus of information recording media, in particular, optical information recording medium such as an optical disc (i.e., a so-called xe2x80x9cDigital Video Discxe2x80x9d, etc., into which digital video/audio information can be recorded, and also to a recording/reproducing apparatus of information recording media, including such optical information recording media such as a DVD-RAM (i.e., a so called Digital Video Disc-Random Access Memory), etc.
2. Description of Prior Art
In Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. Hei 9-219086 (1997), there is disclosed or described an example of a conventional reproducing apparatus of an optical disc.
The optical disc reproducing apparatus of the conventional art has a function of detecting an identifier which is an inherent information for each of the optical discs and obtainable from the data of the recorded information thereof so as to identify it, and a function, a so-called xe2x80x9clast memoryxe2x80x9d function for memorizing position information of the optical disc, whereby the video/audio information is recorded into a last memory together with it, when a last memory instruction key is pushed down.
In such the reproducing apparatus of the optical disc, after being mounted or set with an optical disc therein, the identifier of the optical disc is detected and decided whether to be coincident with that which is memorized into the last memory or not. In a case where it is detected that they are coincident to each other, then the reproduction is started from a continuous reproducing position upon an instruction for reproduction generated from the last memory on/off operation key, while the reproduction is started from an original starting position or beginning if there is no such the starting instruction for the reproduction from the last memory on/off operation key. Further, if it is impossible to detect the fact that they are coincident to each other, the reproduction is started from the original starting position (i.e., from the beinning) with regardless of the operation on the last-memory on/off operation key.
However, in such the conventional art, the position information of the optical disc recording the video/audio information therein, at the time when the last memory instruction key is pushed down, is memorized into the last memory together with the identifier information, upon the operation of the last memory instruction key, therefore there is not guarantee that the identifier information and the position information of the disc at which the reproduction is made are certainly memorized into the last memory in any occasion.
For instance, if the power supply is abruptly turned OFF (i.e., interrupted) or is cut off (i.e., stopped) under bad condition of electric power supply source, further, if a power bottom is erroneously turned OFF because of forgetting the operation of the above last memory instruction key, the identifier information and the position information of the disc at which the reproduction is made are lost. Therefore, there is a problem that the continuous reproduction cannot be obtained even if the power source including power supply is turned ON again.
A first object of the present invention is, for dissolving the above-mentioned problem, to provide a reproducing apparatus of information recording media, in particular, an optical information recording medium, and a method thereof, whereby the continuous reproduction can be immediately done when the power source including power supply is turned ON again, even in the case where the power supply was abruptly turned OFF or is cut off under such the bad condition of the electric power supply source, and further in the case where the power button is erroneously turned OFF without operation of the above last memory instruction key.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a reproducing apparatus of information recording media, in particular, an optical information recording medium, whereby the reproduction can be done continuously from the reproduction interruption position, or from the beginning of a title, a chapter or a disc, at the user""s selection when the power source including power supply is turned ON again, even in the case where the power supply is abruptly turned OFF or is cut off under such the bad condition of the electric power supply source, and further in the case where the power button is erroneously turned OFF without the operation of the above last memory instruction key.
A third object of the present invention is to provide a reproducing apparatus of information recording media, in particular, an optical information recording medium, whereby the continuous reproduction can be done with maintaining the same condition as before when the power source including power supply is turned ON again, even in the case where the power supply is abruptly turned OFF or is cut off under such the bad condition of the electric power supply source, and further in the case where the power button is erroneously turned OFF without operation of the above last memory instruction key.
A fourth object of the present invention is to provide a recording/reproducing apparatus of information recording media, in particular, an optical information recording medium, whereby continuous recording of input data can be done immediately when the power source including power supply is turned ON again, even in the case where the power supply is abruptly turned OFF or is cut off under such the bad condition of the electric power supply source.
A fifth object of the present invention is to provide a recording/reproducing apparatus of information recording media, in particular, an optical information recording medium, whereby continuous recording of input data can be done immediately with maintaining the same condition as before when the power source including power supply is turned ON again, even in the case where the power supply is abruptly turned OFF or is cut off under such the bad condition of the electric power supply source.
According to the present invention, for achieving the first object mentioned above, there is provided a reproducing apparatus of an information recording medium, comprising:
a drive for reading out information recorded onto the information recording medium;
a drive controller portion for controlling said drive so as to extract video/audio data from the recorded information by reproducing thereof, and having a function of identifying said information recording medium which is mounted onto said drive by detecting an identifier information from data in the recorded information;
video/audio output portion for outputting video/audio;
a work memory for memorizing the identifier information being identified in said drive controller portion, the video/audio data being extracted in said drive controller portion, and information indicative of reproducing position;
a decoder portion for reading out the video/audio data memorized in said work memory and for converting the read-out video/audio data into desired video/audio data to be outputted to said video/audio output portion;
an interruption instruction means for outputting an interruption instruction at a desired time period or frequency;
a non-volatile memory; and
a controller portion for controlling the identifier information and the information indicative of the reproducing position which are memorized in said work memory so as to be read out and to be stored into said non-volatile memory upon basis of the interruption instruction outputted at the desired time period or frequency from said interruption instruction means.
According to the present invention, for achieving the second object mentioned above, there is provided a reproducing apparatus of an information recording medium, comprising:
a drive for reading out information recorded onto the information recording medium;
a drive controller portion for controlling said drive so as to extract video/audio data from the recorded information by reproducing thereof, and having a function of identifying said information recording medium which is mounted onto said drive by detecting an identifier information from data in the recorded information;
video/audio output portion for outputting video/audio;
a work memory for memorizing the identifier information being identified in said drive controller portion, the video/audio data being extracted in said drive controller portion, and information indicative of reproducing position;
a decoder portion for reading out the video/audio data memorized in said work memory and for converting the read-out video/audio data into desired video/audio data to be outputted to said video/audio output portion;
an interruption instruction means for outputting an interruption instruction at a desired time period or frequency;
a non-volatile memory;
selection means for selecting whether the position of the reproduction to be started from a continuous reproducing position again or not when conducting the reproduction anew; and
a controller portion for controlling the identifier information and the information indicative of the reproducing position which are memorized in said work memory so as to be read out and to be stored into said non-volatile memory upon basis of the interruption instruction outputted at the desired time period or frequency from said interruption instruction means, and for controlling the reproduction from the continuous reproducing position by controlling said drive controller portion upon basis of the information indicative of the reproducing position which is read out from said non-volatile memory when conducting the reproduction anew, in a case where the identifier information read out from said non-volatile memory and the identifier information identified in said drive controller portion is compared to be coincident with and the reproduction from the continuous reproducing position is selected by said selection portion.
According to the present invention, for achieving the third object mentioned above, there is provided a reproducing apparatus of an information recording medium, as defined in the above, wherein said decoder portion reads out the video/audio data stored in said work memory, and converts the read-out video/audio data into desired video/audio data to be outputted to said video/audio output portion, and further outputs the information indicative reproducing position with respect to said information recording medium; and said controller portion controls so that the identifier information memorized in said work memory and the information indicative of the reproducing position obtained from said decoder portion are stored into said non-volatile memory on basis of the interruption instruction outputted from said interruption instruction means at the desired time duration or period. Further, there is provided a reproducing apparatus of an information recording medium, as defined in the above, wherein said work memory memorizes the identifier information which is identified in said drive controller portion, the video/audio data extracted from said drive controller portion, the information indicative of reproducing position, and information relating to a conversion method; and said controller portion controls so that the identifier information, the information indicative of the reproducing position, and the information relating to the conversion method, which are memorized in said work memory, are read out to be stored into said non-volatile memory on basis of the interruption instruction outputted from said interruption instruction means at the desired time duration or period. Furthermore, there is provide a reproducing apparatus of an information recording medium, as defined in the above, wherein said work memory memorizes the identifier information which is identified in said drive controller portion, the video/audio data extracted from said drive controller portion, the information indicative of reproducing position, and information relating to an output method for outputting from said video/audio portion; and said controller portion controls so that the identifier information, the information indicative of the reproducing position, and the information relating to the output method, which are memorized in said work memory, are read out to be stored into said non-volatile memory on basis of the interruption instruction outputted from said interruption instruction means at the desired time duration or period.
In this instance, it is preferable in the reproducing apparatus of an information recording medium, as defined in the above, wherein said non-volatile memory is so constructed that the information are memorized into plural different areas sequentially, and are over-written sequentially thereon when they are written into all of said plural areas. Further, it is preferable in the reproducing apparatus of an information recording medium, as defined in the above, further comprising set-up means for setting up information relating to output method for outputting from said video/audio output portion and for memorizing it into said work memory.
According to the present invention, for achieving the fourth object mentioned above, there is provided a reproducing/recording apparatus of an information recording medium, comprising:
a drive for writing information onto the information recording medium, and for reading out information recorded onto the information recording medium;
a drive controller portion for controlling said drive so as to write the information, and so as to extract video/audio from the recorded information recorded onto the information recording medium by reproducing thereof;
a work memory for memorizing information indicative of a writing-in position onto the information recording medium, and for memorizing the video/audio data being extracted in said drive controller portion;
an interruption instruction means for outputting an interruption instruction at a desired time period or frequency;
a controller portion for controlling the information indicative of the writing position which is memorized in said work memory so as to be read-out and to be written into the information recording medium by said drive through said drive controller portion upon basis of the interruption instruction outputted at the desired time period or frequency from said interruption instruction means;
video/audio output portion for outputting video/audio; and
a decoder portion for reading out the video/audio data stored in said work memory and for converting the read-out video/audio data into desired video/audio data to be outputted to said video/audio output portion.
In the instance, it is preferable a reproducing/recording apparatus of an information recording medium, as defined in the above, further comprising:
data input means for inputting data, wherein,
said work memory memorizes the data inputted from said input means and the information indicative of writing position onto said information recording medium, and further memorizes the video/audio data extracted from said drive controller portion.
Further, it is also preferable a reproducing/recording apparatus of an information recording medium, as defined in the above, further comprising:
selecting means for selecting whether to start the writing from a position for continuous writing or not, wherein,
said controller portion controls said drive controller portion to write the data from the position for continuous writing on basis of the information indicative of the writing position which is written onto said information recording medium when the writing from the position for continuous writing is selected through said selecting means.
And, also, it is preferable a reproducing/recording apparatus of an information recording medium, as defined in the above, further comprising:
a non-volatile memory, and wherein,
said controller portion controls so that the information indicative of the writing position memorized in said work memory so as to be stored into said non-volatile memory on basis of the interruption instruction outputted from said interruption instruction means at the desired time duration or period.
Further, according to the present invention, for achieving the fifth object mentioned above, there is provided a reproducing/recording apparatus of an information recording medium, comprising:
a drive for writing information onto the optical information recording medium, and for reading out information recorded onto the information recording medium;
a drive controller portion for controlling said drive so as to write the information, and so as to extract video/audio from the recorded information recorded onto the information recording medium by reproducing thereof;
a data input portion for inputting data;
a work memory for memorizing the data inputted from said data input portion and information indicative of a position of a last portion of a writing area of said data onto the information recording medium, and for memorizing the video/audio data being extracted in said drive controller portion;
a controller portion for controlling the data memorized in said work memory to be read out and to be written into said information recording medium through said drive controller portion, and for controlling the information indicative of the last portion of said writing area to be read-out and to be written into said information recording medium by said drive through said drive controller portion;
video/audio output portion for outputting video/audio; and
a decoder portion for reading out the video/audio data stored in said work memory and for converting the read-out video/audio data into desired video/audio data to be outputted to said video/audio output portion.
In this instance, it is preferable the decoder portion in the above reproducing/recording apparatus of an information recording medium is constructed so that the compression process such as MPEG and so on is treated to the data inputted through said data input portion.
Furthermore, according to the present invention, there is provided a reproducing method of video/audio signal recorded on an information recording medium with a reproducing apparatus, comprising:
reading out information from the information recording medium which is mounted on said reproducing apparatus;
detecting information indicative of a present position of the read-out from the information recording medium;
memorizing the information indicative of the present position of the reading-out; and
re-starting the reading-out of the information recorded onto the information recording medium by using said memorized information indicative of the present position of the reading-out, after interruption of electric power to said reproducing apparatus.
Also, according to the present invention, there is provided a reproducing method of video/audio signal as defined in the above, wherein the information indicative of the present position of the reading-out is memorized into a memory which is provided in said reproducing apparatus.
Furthermore, according to the present invention, there is provided a reproducing method of video/audio signal as defined in the above, wherein the information indicative of the present position of the reading-out is memorized at a predetermined time period.
According to the reproducing apparatus of an information recording medium for accomplishing the first object of the present invention, it is possible to obtain the reproduction of the medium directly from when electric power including electric power supply is turned ON next, even if the electric power supply is abruptly turned OFF or stopped due to bad electric power supply condition, and further if a power button is turned OFF with forgetting an operation of a last memory instruction key.
According to the reproducing apparatus of an information recording medium for accomplishing the second object of the present invention, it is possible to obtain the reproduction of the medium from the position for continuous reproduction, titles or chapters thereof, or from the beginning of the disc, upon the selection of user, when electric power including electric power supply is turned ON next again, even if the electric power supply is abruptly turned OFF or stopped due to bad electric power supply condition, and further if a power button is turned OFF with forgetting an operation of a last memory instruction key.
According to the reproducing apparatus of an information recording medium for accomplishing the second object of the present invention, it is also possible to obtain continuous reproduction of the video/audio output with maintaining the previous condition as before, when electric power including electric power supply is turned ON next, even if the electric power supply is abruptly turned OFF or stopped due to bad electric power supply condition, and further if a power button is turned OFF with forgetting an operation of a last memory instruction key.
According to the reproducing apparatus of an information recording medium for accomplishing the fourth object of the present invention, it is possible to continuously write the inputted data directly from when electric power including electric power supply is turned ON next, even if the electric power supply is abruptly turned OFF or stopped due to bad electric power supply condition.
According to the reproducing apparatus of an information recording medium for accomplishing the fifth object of the present invention, it is possible to write the inputted data continuously when electric power including electric power supply is turned ON next, with maintaining the previous condition even if the electric power supply is abruptly turned OFF or stopped due to bad electric power supply condition.